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April 27, 2010

G21: Red Sox 2, Blue Jays 1

Buchholz (8-7-1-2-4, career-high 117 pitches) with a perfect ninth for the save from Ramon Ramirez. It was a hell of a performance from HH -- "gutsy" was the word everyone was using -- since it was known before the game began that Daniel Bard, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon were all unavailable.

A bases loaded, four-pitch walk to Mike Lowell (batting for David Ortiz) in the eighth -- from fresh-into-the-game Kevin Gregg -- gave the Red Sox the lead. Jeremy Hermida's single scored Ortiz in the second.

Since 1920 (excluding 1940-1951, for which we do not have detailed box scores), this was just the 13th game in which both starting pitchers went no more than 3 innings and allowed at least 7 earned runs ...

If you add in allowing at least 8 hits, the #2 game between the Rangers and Angels [September 19, 2008] is the only other one in addition to yesterday's that qualifies. ...

The Red Sox are the first team this year to boast five different players with at least 3 hits in the same game ...

Last night's announced crowd of 13,847 was the smallest crowd to watch the Red Sox play a game anywhere (non-exhibition) since May 20, 2004 (12,401 in Tampa Bay).

Ryan Westmoreland was released from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital on Saturday, though he will continue to have physical and occupational therapy there.

The Jays don't draw well BUT you have to take into account that it's hockey playoffs. Baseball can only be the 2nd sport here, at best. People don't pay attention to baseball until after the Stanley Cup.

Everyone curses the name of StubHub, Nathan, but when I went to Boston two summers ago, I got CF seats at what I thought was a reasonable markup on there. Seats were just OK, but it was so incredible being there (I have only been a few times.)

L, the thing I notice about the Stanley Cup playoffs is how much I want to watch the games even when it's not a Bruins series, so it's no surprise that hockey fans everywhere will watch the playoffs even if their team isn't in it.

Why do people care if a movie cost too much to make, or didn't make its budget back? It doesn't affect your enjoyment of the movie.

But I think people find it to be a selling point if an entertainment enterprise is financially successful, and a detriment if it's not. People speculate about the team moving. People note when stadiums are empty at Florida MLB games. Schadenfreude, I guess.

Why do people care if a movie cost too much to make, or didn't make its budget back? It doesn't affect your enjoyment of the movie.

Good example, something else I never, ever understand. When I hear people talking about which movie grossed the highest over the weekend, I'm baffled as to why they care. (Assuming they are not investors, just consumers.)

Nathan, just to be clear, I've never used any of those services. I've bought tickets on the street years ago, but have not used StubHub yet at all. Good luck, I hope you get good seats at a good price. More importantly, I hope your partner loves Fenway.

I don't know about others but I like to see full stadiums to show that baseball is alive and well and is popular, and I don't like to see an image of baseball being unpopular someplace, and since we don't get live ratings numbers during the games to see how many are watching on TV, stadium attendance is all we have.

Buying on the street is also not worth the stress you experience in the moment. The atmosphere outside of Fenway is not relaxed, and you'll be in a city you don't know well. Not worth it. Also, it's possible these days that a ticket will have been scanned already.

Re ticket sales and attendance, I guess I'm so used to liking what's not popular and not caring about most things that are popular (because they are not to my tastes, not because I purposely dislike popular things), that I don't care if baseball is popular relative to other sports, either. As long as they're playing, I'm good.

Nathan, congratulations! On going to Fenway AND getting married (not necessarily in that order).

Laura, I find it depressing to go to an event that is poorly attended. There is no energy in the room---whether it's a play, a game, or a restaurant. Movies don't bother me since you don't really feed off crowd energy in a movie, except for comedies which I rarely see anyway. But I like the buzz a crowd brings to other events. Hope that answers the question you asked about why people care about ticket sales.

Nathan - in my experience the best 'value' seats are the high-up seats in the infield grandstand, the ones that go for around $45-55 face value. The view is pretty good from that section, as is the atmosphere. The right-field grandstand seats and the bleacher seats are awful IMO and while they're a little cheaper a little extra is worth it.

The Left Field grandstand seats aren't that bad either, and I think those go for ~40.

I don't mind it as much if I am watching a game on TV since I usually don't notice the empty seats until a ball is hit somewhere and the camera reveals the empty seats. Then I think, wow, what a shame. But since watching at home does not give me a crowd buzz anyway, it doesn't interfere much with my enjoyment of the game. I do feel sorry for the home team players, however, who have no fans there for them.

Finally sat down and got static on NESN. Took me 10 minutes to figure out that they'd changed the channel lineup. (good thing I work in TV; I'm so on top of these things.)

Congrats, Nathan. I wouldn't worry 'bout missing on Monster seats. In the few times I've gone in the last few years, I've been quite happy with the infield grandstand seats that Joe Grav mentions.

Jere (who would sure have a legalized scalper rant about Stub Hub and the like) has always been good about pointing out that tix do come up for sale on the redsox.com site from time to time. Year before last I got 2 Sox/Yankees tickets at face value on the site a few weeks in advance. You'll be hard pressed to find 2 right next to each other (mine were 3 seats apart in two adjoining rows).

I really want to go to Fenway this year. Between getting a "new" car, dentist bills and the usual, I haven't been able to budget buying tickets. I was sorely tempted by the 3packs of SRO tickets. 2 pairs/3 games for $120 is pretty sweet, but with all the ancillary costs of 3 trips to boston....

Emma and I will be going to see the Pittsfield Colonials for $1 tickets at their exhibition opener next month. :-) Now that they're not the Pittsfield American Defenders in jingoistic camo glory I'm game to go. Check out the new version of the American Defenders thankfully not in Pittsfield.

Nick, that's cool re minor leagues. (I haven't seen the link yet, I can just imagine.) Our finances haven't permitted much baseball this season either. I wanted to see the Sox in Detroit again - I loved that 2 years ago - but we couldn't do it.

I had to choose between Shakespeare during the All-Star Break and Sox in Detroit. (Couldn't afford either so I made myself pick one.) We have baseball every night but no theatre anymore. Had to go with Stratford.

We went for the first time last year during the ASB, and I decided we have to go every year. Stratford is less than 2 hours from where we live, and some folks who read my blog own a B&B there. And now we are all friends.

Last year we saw J Caesar and Cyrano.

This year it's The Tempest (Christopher Plummer is Prospero) and As You Like It.

I love theatre and used to be really into it, went very often. So being so close to a world-class Shakespeare festival is great.

Nathan, check out The Buckminster online. It's right near Fenway - I mean right near - and an amazing bargain. It's a historic old hotel, renovated. Pretty basic, nothing posh, but nice clean rooms at half of what you'd think they'd cost, and you can see the Green Monster from your window.

Also, a JoS reader named JohnGoldfine is a wealth of info about things to do and see in Boston. He and Amy both made great suggestions for our last trip.

Nathan, if you friend me on FB, we can email about things in Boston. Join the JOS gamethreaders group on FB and you will see me there. Too tired tonight to type much, but I am happy to be of assistance!

I graduated in '83. Mr. Ribe and I were hoping for the Wren. But, the Griffon looks pretty good in person. We saw it at a baseball game and the spring football game. Student involvement has really picked up this year with the formation of the Tribal Fever.